I’m hoping to build a mini-library of links to material that is relevant to this topic. Thanks to everyone, whether here, via facebook or twitter, who has already started to point me in the direction of some very interesting resources!
Here is a quick-read I found last year: a newspaper article dating back to 2010. You will see that it raises lots of interesting issues!
stirrup[ˈstɪrəp] NOUN a pair of supports in which a woman's ankles may be placed during gynaecological examinations and childbirth, to hold her legs in a position (also known as the lithotomy position) which will facilitate medical examination or intervention
The lithotomy challenge – an idea of UK obstetrician Flo Wilcock and aimed at fellow healthcare professionals – is an invitation to undertake a simple and yet fascinating experiential learning opportunity: take the place of a woman in a lithotomy position and see how it feels. Those who’ve taken the challenge have found it to be a great spur to reflection and changes to practice often follow. Flo positions it as part of the broader ‘whose shoes?’ initiative, which is itself part of the ‘humanising of birth’ agenda. I also see it as part of a broader project to ensure that ‘every lithotomy is a desired and needed lithotomy’.
If you haven’t come across this challenge, you can read more about it here on the multimedia #matexp website:
http://matexp.org.uk/matexp-and-me/the-matexp-lithotomy-challenge/
OK – so this blog isn’t supposed to be about me, but I’d like to introduce myself for any readers who haven’t yet met me.
I have given birth to four children, who now range in age from 9 to 29. As far as I can recall*, I’ve never used stirrups/ adopted the lithotomy position during labour, birth or postnatally.
My work background is in public policy, my academic background is in social geography, and I’ve also picked up an MBA along the way. For the last ten years I’ve been occupying myself quite happily – alongside domestic commitments – thinking about birth and the maternity services, by way of a Masters-level dissertation looking at home as a space for birth (2008), a PhD thesis thinking about birthing women as skilful and knowledgeable (2017) and by volunteering for AIMS (ongoing).
I have created this project blog because I find a particular CQC finding really intriguing and I’m hoping that setting up this project in this way might help me achieve some clarity.
I’m also interested in discovering how far we can go with a project led from beyond the usual academic/ clinical space. What are the pros and cons of such service-user led inquiries? Will I/we be able to do any useful work on this together? Should we/ could we attempt to #changethestory told by the CQC survey findings in this area?
Thanks for joining me!
Jo
*no – it’s not actually true that women always have great recall about each of their births (nor that they always remember their midwives!)
“The CQC also found that one in five (22%) women who had a “normal” (non-assisted) vaginal delivery had their legs raised in stirrups while they gave birth.”
As we all know, any particular statistic on the topic of birth can give rise to many different understandings (and sometimes arguments!) So I thought it might be important to start off this project with that idea clearly in mind.
Will you please help this project along then, by sharing some initial thoughts on what this text means to you?
Thank you!
Jo
Don’t the annual CQC maternity survey findings* always throw out every year so many intriguing findings?
This time last year, this finding in particular caught my eye:
“The CQC also found that one in five (22%) women who had a “normal” (non-assisted) vaginal delivery had their legs raised in stirrups while they gave birth.”
So I started to have some conversations about this issue, to try and find out just what was going on here and whether this finding signalled a potential area of concern about the way in which the contemporary UK birth culture works to produce certain ways of birthing.
There was certainly some interest in the topic, and I got the sense that this was indeed something that was troubling others. But I didn’t follow through with my interest, and I’m not entirely sure whether anyone else did.
This year, the CQC finding that “36% of women give birth with legs in stirrups” has re-ignited my interest, and my hope is that this new online space might host some further conversation about this issue, and perhaps allow us together come to some conclusions.
I’m looking forward to the conversation. Please join in, because I’m sure together that we’re going to be able to do some great work on this!
Maybe you’d like to say hello and introduce yourself, and your particular interest, in the comments section below?
Jo (more on me in a later blog post!)
* the CQC – the Care Quality Commission – is a UK governmental body. Find it here: https://cqc.org.uk/
Thanks for joining me!
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
Investigating stirrup usage in birth 